Here Are the Top 7 Ways to Create Buttery Bokeh in Your Photos

We’ve all seen it in photos and most of us know what it’s called. Some describe it as the “beautiful blur” in the background of an image but to most photographers it’s known as “bokeh.”

The term is said to come from the Japanese word “boke,” which translates as “blur” or, in some cases, “senility.” Most photographers use the word to mean the blurred/out-of-focus background in an image that helps draw attention to the sharp foreground details of your subject.

Now that we’ve defined it, how does a photographer create it? That’s where photographer David Flores comes in with the below video for B&H Photo.

“How do you create rich, smooth, buttery bokeh? You first have to start with a shallow depth of field, of course,” Flores says. Titled the “Top 7 Ways to Create Buttery Bokeh,” Flores explains and demonstrates the following bokeh tips in the short video below.

#1 Create Distance

#2 Wide Aperture

#3 Use the Right Lens

#4 Sensor Size

#5 Background

#6 Bokeh Time/Aperture Shape

Watch the video and if you’re still interested in the eye-catching bokeh effect, check out the following stories as well: